Man charged with capital murder in 2012 killings

Published 4:21 am, Thursday, April 23, 2015

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson on Wednesday announced that Ali Awad Mah Irsan has been charged with capital murder in connection with a pair of 2012 murders.

Irsan, 57, is charged in the killings of outspoken 30-year old Iranian women’s rights activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh and his son-in-law, 28-year old Coty Beavers. He is currently being held in federal custody and awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to Social Security fraud. The charges were handed down in the 184th State District Court.

Irsan’s wife, Ashmou Alrawadbeh, and son, Nasim Irsan, have also been charged with murder. Both are believed to have been involved in the murder of Bagherzadeh. Ali Awad Mah Irsan’s daughter, Nadia Irsan, faces a charge of felony stalking. It is believed Nadia stalked her sister, Nesreen Irsan, in 2012, before the murders of Bagherzadeh and Beavers. Nadia Irsan is currently in federal custody awaiting sentencing in the same Social Security fraud case.

Investigators from several law enforcement agencies, including the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the Houston Police Department Homicide Division, the FBI, Homeland Security, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the Harris County District Attorney’s office worked cooperatively on the investigation of the extremely complicated case. Officials say the investigation is ongoing and the possibility exists that further charges and additional suspects may be brought forward.

“This is a one of a kind case,” Anderson said during Wednesday’s press conference at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. “I’ve never seen anything like this with the family involvement and the lengths that were gone to to commit these premeditated murders.”

The case has captured international headlines since Bagherzadeh, a student at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, was gunned down at her parent’s Galleria area apartment complex. About 10 months later, Beavers was shot and killed at a Northwest Houston apartment complex.

“Today is an important day for the families of Galareh and Coty Beavers,” Anderson said. “It has taken a long time, but I assure you we have never forgotten about your loved ones. We can’t bring them back, but our goal to get justice for them will continue. The cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies investigating this complicated case has been and will remain remarkable.”

Anderson said investigators believe the murders were part of an ongoing conspiracy orchestrated by Ali Awad Mah Irsan, who wanted to hunt down and harm his daughter, Nesreen, and those close to her because he believed she and her associates—chiefly Bagherzadeh and Beavers—had violated his honor as a father and a Muslim.

Investigators say Nesreen had left her father’s home without permission because she chafed under his complete domination of her life and went into hiding with her boyfriend, Beavers, whom she later married. Bagherzadeh was a good friend of Nesreen who tried to help her escape her father’s dictatorial rule.

“Ali Awad Mah Irsan believed his daughter had defied his rule by marrying a Christian man and he had contacted Bagherzadeh to ask where his daughter was. She refused to help him and berated him for thinking he could control his daughter, so he became enraged with her and that’s the motive for the two murders,” Anderson said.

Ali Awad Mah Irsan was arrested in May of 2013, but was not initially charged with either the Bagherzadeh or Beavers killings. He was charged, along with his wife and 31-year old daughter, Nadia, with defrauding the Social Security Administration and they were still being held on those charges when the murder charges were handed down.

“During the course of the investigation, we uncovered the white collar crime activity being perpetrated, the Social Security fraud, and we take those kinds of crimes very seriously,” said Special Agent Perry Turner, in charge of the FBI office in Houston.

Anderson said Nasim Irsan was arrested by Montgomery County officers on Wednesday and faces possible arraignment later this week. She said the other suspects are due to be sentenced this summer and be transferred to the Harris County Jail in July.